If you’ve never had the pleasure of witnessing the Calgary Stampede, imagine an entire city flooded with cowboys. Music, chuck races, more hay bales than you can count and, of course, rodeo. For ten days, Calgary is transformed into a celebration of all things Albertans hold dear. This year, the festival coincided with the soft opening of our Calgary Atelier Munro House. Who would’ve thought the ideal artist to partner up with would be a young guy from the Netherlands?

Meet Mike Dings, the 26-year-old commissioned to create a series of artworks to show in the store. The softly spoken painter is a lover of the classics. In his style, his music taste, and in his muse: spaghetti westerns. We spoke to Mike in the classroom of an old school building in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, a mix of soft-edged portraits of lone rangers and deserted landscapes lining the walls.

Mike, we’re so glad to have you on board for this project. Your art is perfect for Calgary and Stampede. It’s quite funny we found you in the Netherlands. Not exactly cowboy country. How did that start?

I graduated from art school four years ago. In my final year, I was a bit stuck on what I wanted to paint. I didn’t have a subject and I needed to create my final project, and I was thinking, what do I like? Where is there a strong visual? I was thinking something along those lines when I decided on westerns. They are instantly recognizable. I like that. You can see any still from a western and everybody knows what the story could be. That’s what I found really interesting about them. You only need a little bit of information and you know what’s going on.

You’re so young! Did you grow up watching them?

Yeah, of course! Just yesterday I was in the Atelier Munro store in Amsterdam and someone said, ‘I’m old and I know they were on TV when I was young, but I didn’t know they would still be on TV when you were young’! It does seem to surprise people.

Classics are classics, I suppose. Is it always westerns for you?

I always take imagery from movies. First, I made a series of paintings inspired by the Italian spaghetti westerns of the 60s. And over time, I have continued doing that while also combining it with other imagery from the same movies and different movies from the same period.

I was quite struck by the softness of your work. That genre is quite gritty and grizzled, so it’s quite a contrast.

The movies are quite dirty and gritty, as you said. That’s why I find them so interesting in the first place. Especially in contrast to the Hollywood versions of the westerns, which are so slick. Everyone is beautiful, their hair perfectly made up.

Imperfection definitely makes things more interesting. Does your creative process follow the same logic?

It involves watching a lot of movies! To see if there’s something interesting in it. If there is, I will find it and print them. Not in color, but just to get an idea, so I can make my own sketch from it. Not even good sketches. Rough. Just to get an idea of a shape or composition. Then I directly paint onto the canvas. I find something in the movie that intrigues me but it’s never a direct translation. It’s my interpretation.

You will be in Calgary for the opening. Are you planning to get some more inspiration for future works?

Maybe, I’ll see. I’m really looking forward to it. I’m heading to Texas first. Dallas, Austin, Houston, and then going farther through the South all the way to Nashville and Memphis. There will be lots of rodeo. I also love jazz and country music, so it should be fun. The trip is not necessarily for inspiration, but it would be nice to maybe get some out of it, you know.

You created something special with Atelier Munro for the event, I hear. Did any inspiration from the westerns make it into the look too?

I chose a really small houndstooth pattern. A brownish gray two-buttoned jacket with wide lapels, so mostly classic. Nothing really special, but the way I like it. I did ask them to make the trousers a bit wider so I can wear my boots!

I can’t wait to see it and your newest work once it’s all finished. Thanks for chatting with me today.

Mike wears our limited-edition hat created in collaboration with Calgary icon, Smithbilt Hats. The wide-brim hat crafted in our signature blue is available at the newly opened Atelier Munro House Calgary. You can check out Mike’s paintings in Calgary at our new store or in the Netherlands at Ruby Soho in Den Bosch and Galerie Nasty Alice in Eindhoven.